Black Tennis Pro's
Shelia great article! John McCain may need to consider just because his actions aren't intended to stir hate, they may in fact do so.
He may have been surprised to hear the words spoken by some of his supporters yesterday when some said they feared Obama was an Arab and a terrorist, but he should be aware at this point.
John Lewis is calling it the way he sees it. McCain has first hand evidence of some of the irrational fear and hatred out there. He himself may not be the cause of it, but he stokes it and in the mind of his supporters, he validates it when he uses the William Ayers attack.
The word terrorist is inflammatory. In matters of race, a wink and a nod can mean a gun and a bomb to those most extreme in their bigotry. If you're not part of the solution, then you can become part of the problem.
McCain and Palin have entered a very dark zone in their campaign, they are instigating hatred and destain for obama based on his character and person which encompass his heritage and culture.
We do not need a potential president and vice going down this road and encouraging people who may be partial to such thoughts and hatred to raise them. the campaign is giving these folks a platform to spew hatred and segregate the people in this country, and return to a society of divide and hatred compared to encouraging community and togetherness.
Thank you Ann. You've covered it all very well in this response. People of various backgrounds can see that this type of campaigning does more harm than good. McCain needs to put the brakes of this ugliness now!
What happened to him competing with Obama on policy? That flew out of the window real quick.
Lewis is right McCain has been flirting with the wackos who support him while at the same time trying to distance himself from this, it's sad really because I dont think he shares these same beliefs as these loons but he is so desperate he will entertain them.
That truly is the sad part Mike. My political and personal views of McCain have altered dramatically since the campaign began. I never thought he was quite this jaded before.
I will say, however, campaigning or not, you've got to have some measure of these beliefs in your heart when you can allow the words to cross your lips and not chastise your supporters for spouting such hateful language.
Hey Sheila,
I agree with all that was said here but would like to add that in my opinion McCain is just using Palin as a sort of good cop, bad cop parody and she is dumb enough to unknowingly play the bad cop. He lets her run around and stoke the fires and then he comes in to "supposedly" make the apologies and clean up her messes. It makes him look like the good guy, there by improving his image before Nov. 4th So he can be known as the Maverick who stood up to racism even in his own campaign. Very smart move...
Regina, that's definitely where my thinking was on their whole game when it first started. So I was extremely surprised when McCain jumped in with rhetoric of his own. That's where he blew it. If they had stuck to the 'good-cop-bad-cop' game, he may have been able to totally ride in as the white knight and save us from the big bad racist rhetoric of Sarah Palin.
When this campaign is over and Obama wins (and he will), McCain still has a long history in Washington that he can bank on, Sarah Palin is going to be the subject of much more comedy - and she really ought to be giving that some thought instead of being happy to be made a puppet.
John Lewis has seen this scenario before and has every right to speak on it. As for McCain toning down the imflamatory rhetoric, he's saying to be respectful in front of the camera, but the negative adds are still out there and his surrogates are still spewing garbage.
Palin has become a milstone around his neck. He knew she had this investigation hanging over her head, but he was so arrogant, he selected her anyway. Now she's been found guilty of abuse of power and I hear it's gonna get worse. He gambled and lost.
Also Palin was booed for almost two minutes staight at the Philly Flyers hockey game on Saturday. The Flyers owner, who is hardcore Republican asked her to drop the puck. Not only was she booed, she was given thumbs down and called names, plus there were Obama signs all over. They turned up the music to try and drown out the boos. She brought two of her daughters out with her and I thought how awful for them. Then I read that at a rally earlier, she stated that she knew she might get booed so she was going to bring her daughter out because they wouldn't boo her then. Some mother, using her 8 year old as a shield. The woman is a disgrace and I'm being "respectful."
I agree, the message they are sending is even more dangerous than Hillary Clinton's play on the Kennedy assassination. It's like they are saying, vote for me or he's going to die. Unfortunately, people are eating it up.
Unit6109, that's about as respectful as you could possibly get given what we're working with. Ain't she about nothin'? Dragging that little girl up on stage so people won't boo her. She should've been arrested 
!
I saw the video of her being booed at the hockey game, I felt for the girls too. The older daughter tried to take it in stride and kept smiling, but I felt bad for them.
I am so glad that John Lewis spoke up, it put a WHOLE NEW LIGHT on the situation. Notice how it has gone away from the campaign speeches over the last couple of days.
And that's the very, very dark side of that kind of rhetoric Shae-Shae. Whether we want to talk about it or not, those kind of hate-filled evil people who will respond to such a hateful message are alive and well.
Thanks for putting this on your site. It needs to get more air play. It was briefly talked about on the news.. before they passed it over for other stories.
Hi Eathan, you're very welcome. This matter did get glossed over pretty quickly, although I have heard a bit more about it today. The greatest thing to come out of it to me, is that McCain acts like he was so insulted by the words, but he sure changed his words in the face of this reprimand.
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